The Role of Family Heritage Language Policies in Promoting Biliteracy among Korean, Nigerian, and Indian Immigrant Families

• In Event: Roundtable Session 13
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Expanding Early Literacy: From Heritage Language Policies to AI and Robotic Tools

Proposal

This research study, conducted by teacher educators, investigates how family heritage language policies influence the development of bilingualism and biliteracy in the children of Korean, Nigerian, and Indian immigrant families in the United States. As teacher educators, we have a vested interest in this topic, having raised our own children in the U.S. and observed the complexities of heritage language maintenance firsthand.
This study explores the influence of Family Language Policies (FLP) on biliteracy development among children in Korean, Nigerian, and Indian immigrant families in the United States. Heritage language (HL) refers to any language secondary to the dominant societal language (typically English in the U.S.), often reflecting cultural and ancestral background. According to Wright (2024), family Language Policy (FLP) is shaped by various sociohistorical and relational factors, emphasizing the influence of parental language ideologies on children's language outcomes within diverse contexts, including immigrant families and their unique challenges. By exploring heritage language maintenance, the study seeks to foster cross-cultural understanding while preserving linguistic diversity. Families speaking heritage languages frequently establish consistent policies, encompassing beliefs and practices concerning language use within their family. These language policies, shaped significantly impact children's language trajectories (Idaryani & Fidyati, 2022; Wright, 2024).

Bilingual learning and biliteracy development begin at home (García & Kleifgen, 2018). The literature on FHLP highlights the critical role of parental support in children's language maintenance. While previous research has often focused on specific ethnic groups, this study pays close attention to Nigerian, Korean, and Indian families, offering a unique comparative perspective. The act of maintaining a heritage language is not merely about communication, yet it is deeply tied to cultural identity formation, family cohesion, and fostering a sense of belonging to the heritage community.
Therefore, the study seeks to answer: How do family heritage language policies among Korean, Nigerian, and Indian immigrant families in the United States shape children’s bilingualism and biliteracy development?

The study specifically examines families' conscious efforts to raise bilingual and bicultural children, including HL policy enforcement, language-rich environments, and unique instructional approaches and practices at home. It explores how these efforts foster simultaneous bilingualism, maintain HL and cultural heritage, and enhance intergenerational dialogue. The study’s unique positionality is that it presents the perspective of teacher educators who are also heritage language parents; this adds an insider perspective that is often absent from academic research. This research contributes to heritage language literature by providing a comparative analysis across three distinct cultural groups.

Employing a qualitative, multiple case study design, in-depth investigations will be conducted with four immigrant families (two Korean, one Nigerian, and one Indian) to explore the nuances of their heritage language policies. This allows a rich understanding of complex factors within unique family contexts, while facilitating cross-case analysis for identifying themes and variations. Furthermore, each researcher will construct personal narratives reflecting on decisions in their family's immigration background, pivotal moments, heritage language beliefs, and practices, examining the intersection of their professional identities as educators and their roles as parents making language policy decisions at home.

Authors

• Guang-Lea Lee, Old Dominion Univsersity

• SoYoung Kang, Gwynedd Mercy University - Gwynedd Valley, PA

• Abha Gupta

• Mujibat Atinuke Akorede, Old Dominion University